


Hold My Hand, I'm Going Under.

by wintercatpaws



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fainting, Fluff, Gen, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Luther and Allison kinda fuck off near the end, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sick Klaus Hargreeves, mostly bc I'm lazy and couldn't figure out how to write them in, post-apocalypse new timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintercatpaws/pseuds/wintercatpaws
Summary: Klaus has been fainting. A lot. It's becoming a problem.Too bad his siblings don't know yet.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 18
Kudos: 951





	Hold My Hand, I'm Going Under.

The morning came like it always did. Or rather, the afternoon. Soft streaks of light entered the room from where the curtains didn't quite cover the whole window. Klaus squinted as he sat up in bed, blinking away the last remnants of sleep from his eyes. Everything filtered in rather slowly. The room was slightly fuzzy. He smelled what remained of the candle he forgot to blow out the night before.

That's a fire hazard.

The next thing he registered was arguing from downstairs. That certainly wasn't new. As he goes through the movements of getting up, getting dressed, getting ready for the shit-show that's sure to greet him when he goes to the living room, he sees Ben, perched with a book in the corner. That certainly isn't new, either.

“You passed out again, you know that?” Ben asks, not looking up from his book. There's concern in his voice, but Klaus stays silent. He doesn't want to talk about this right now.

He's been having... episodes. It's become a problem, these past few weeks. He'll be doing something completely normal one second, and the next thing he knows he's overwhelmed by a wave of... lots of different things, honestly. Dizziness, fatigue, spots that cover his vision floor to ceiling (if he's lucky enough to be in a building when it happens, that is). And then, blackout. Until he reawakens an unspecified amount of time later. Sometimes it just acts as a head-start on sleep, like last night, which he doesn't see as that much of a problem. He could really use some more sleep.

Another yell echoes from downstairs, and Klaus takes a breath. Time to go play mediator, he supposes, sauntering out of his room. He takes the stairs a little slowly. Now that this... thing keeps happening, he's much more cautious around the stairs. Even if he could brush off falling down them as clumsiness, he'd rather not risk the injuries that may come with it. He's already done that once in his life, and he's not eager to do it again. As he reaches the bottom, the eyes in the room are drawn to him. Everyone is scattered around the room, clearly in the middle of a family meeting of some sort.

“Klaus! Jesus, are you just waking up?” Luther questions in his natural, oh-so-loving tone.

“And so what if I am? Live a little, big guy, sleeping in is great! You should all try it sometime,” Klaus grins. Allison rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything.

“You look wrecked, bro,” Diego says.

Ben is suddenly at the bar, same book in hand. “Yeah, wonder why? It's not like you've been fainting almost every day for the past month!”

Klaus rolls his eyes. “Thank you, Diego. And to think I got all gussied up just for you!” He finishes off by blowing a kiss. “Now, care to fill me in on why you're all yelling at 2 in the afternoon?”

Five, previously next to Ben at the bar, is suddenly beside him. “These idiots think that just because we narrowly avoided the fucking apocalypse, we can all just go on and live life. Which is incorrect, for obvious reasons.”

“Because it's over, Five!”

“What obvious reasons?”

“Can we just relax for one fucking minute?!”

Ah, so back to arguing. Klaus rubs at his temples, attempting to soothe the migraine he knows is going to form if everyone doesn't shut the fuck up. His little “episodes” already leave him with a slight headache when he eventually wakes up, and he doesn't need a group of arguing assholes to help it along.

“Just because we stopped the apocalypse, that doesn't mean The Commission won't still be gunning for us! Christ, do you all have no brain? It doesn't work like that,” Five argues back. He does have a point. But then again, they've already been in the “fixed” timeline for a month and a half now, and nobody has come after them yet.

“Wouldn't they have already come for us, then? I mean, we've been here for a hot minute, don't you think?” Klaus points out.

“They work fast, but not that fast. They're likely only just finding out what we've done,” Five turns to the rest of the group. “Which is why we need to start on a plan of action now.”

And with that, the yelling starts back up again.

Klaus gets up to go to the bar. He likes sitting next to Ben, even if the others don't see him. It gives him a sense of comfort. He takes a few steps, and then he feels it. The before.

Ben takes notice as he makes it to the bar, slightly more shaky than before. He eyes him with concern. “Klaus, you need to tell one of them. I can't stop you from hitting your head when you go down, and you just walked away from the only soft furniture in the room,” He says, giving a pointed look to the abandoned chairs and couch before them.

“I'm good, Benny-boy. I can handle it, I just need to breathe for a second,” Klaus mumbles, laying his head down on the bar countertop. His skin feels clammy. He takes a few deep breaths as quietly as he can.

“I don't understand why you won't just tell them. This is a serious thing, Klaus. It's dangerous, and you could hurt yourself.”

“Mmm. Not telling 'em anything, Ben. Don't wanna be tip-toed around all the time,” Klaus whispers, eyes closed. And Ben guesses that means the conversation is over. He's tried to convince Klaus to get help every time this happens, to no avail.

Deep breaths, deep breaths, Klaus thinks. You can do this. Claw your way back.

Distantly, he notices the room isn't nearly as loud as it was. He jumps when he feels a hand touch his forehead. Cracking his eyes open, he sees Vanya.

“Are you okay, Klaus? You look pretty pale...”

Klaus lifts his head, keeping it as steady as he can, and gives the steadiest smile he can manage. “Oh, I'm great, don't worry about me! It's all part of my dashing good looks, no need for concern,” He tries to look nonchalant, but if the worried lines on his sister's forehead are anything to go by, he's failing miserably.

“Why don't you come sit on the couch, bro.” Oh. Diego is there, too. He feels a hand on his back.

“I'm fine, guys! Just dandy, in fact,” He insists. In an effort to show them, he pushes himself off the barstool and stands. Which, in hindsight, might not have been a great decision.

The world tilts.

“Klaus!”

Hands under his elbows, keeping him upright. He feels his head hanging, limp despite his efforts to lift it. His eyelashes are fluttering.

Ben's voice filters in through the chaos. “You're okay, Klaus. Just breathe. You're gonna be just fine, just take some deep breaths and try to stay awake, okay?”

“Mmh. Can't. G'nna pass out.” He feels the grip on his elbows tighten slightly and he vaguely registers someone leading him to the sofa.

“Hey, buddy, sofa's right here. Let's just sit down, alright?” That's Diego's voice he hears. Klaus loves Diego.

“He's probably taken something. Check his eyes.”

“Oh for god's sake Luther, give it a rest. There's something fucking wrong!” Allison? How nice of her to defend him.

“Klaus, hey, do you want some water? Vanya brought some in.” He would love to say yes but he can't even see straight at the moment, electing to keep his eyes squeezed shut to try and ward off the dizziness washing over him.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

He feels his consciousness slip a little more.

Why aren't the deep breaths working?

Deep breath in.

He's so tired of this.

Deep breath out.

“Klaus, what's wrong? What's happening?” Vanya asks. “Can you hear us?”

Yes, but he doesn't much want to at the moment. He's too busy focusing on his breathing, which really isn't helping as much as he thought it would. Well, so much for not having everyone find out. Just his luck.

He feels reality slip a little more. And a little more.

“Hey, stay with me buddy, everything's gonna be okay,” Diego is saying. But Klaus doesn't even feel like he's in the same world as Diego right now.

He's slipping.

“D'go, 'm s–sorry, ev'rything will b–be... fine,” Klaus tries to reassure them. “J'st have to... t–to sleep f'r a min... a minute.”

“Klaus, hey—!”

Blackout.

He regains consciousness slowly, just like always. The first thing he's aware of is a hand tapping his cheek gently and a voice saying his name.

“Klaus, wake up. You're in the Academy, you're safe. You passed out,” the voice says. He forces his eyes to crack open and look. Five.

The next thing he notices is that he's laying on someones legs. Rolling his head up slowly he reveals that it's Diego's legs, and he can't decide if he feels embarrassed by that or not.

“You really worried them,” Ben chimes in from the sidelines. Yeah, I know, thank you, Ben.

Luther and Allison are gone, he notices. Vanya is sitting a few feet away, ready with water that he greedily reaches for. She hands it to him and he sits up with the help of Diego to drink.

“Are you okay?” She asks, concerned. Everyone is looking at him with different levels of worry in their eyes.

“I guess I owe you guys an explanation, huh?” Klaus laughs slightly. He supposes it's useless to try and play this off now.

“Has this happened before?” Five asked. Klaus sighed, fully sitting up on his own and scooting to the corner of the couch.

“Yeah, it has,” Klaus reluctantly admits. “It's been happening for... a while, actually.”

Diego's eyebrows furrow. “What's a while?”

Ben gives him a look. Truth time. “Around the time we arrived in the new timeline,” He says, looking down.

There's a beat of silence as his words sink in. He prepares himself for the yelling, but instead he's met with Vanya's hand grabbing his. Diego puts a hand on his shoulder. “You should've let us help, bro. This is serious. Something could be really wrong.”

“I know, I'm sorry. I just... I didn't want you guys to treat me like I'm made of glass, you know? Fuck, I don't even know why this is happening,” Klaus tries to ignore the wobble in his voice and his cheeks burn when he notices the tears of frustration gathering in his eyes.

“We'll figure it out.” Klaus raises his head to see Five looking at him. “First thing's first, you'll need to see a doctor. Periodic fainting can mean lots of things, and it's worrying that you've already waited a month.” Klaus nods.

“I know. I'm sorry. And thank you.” Diego grabs his hand and squeezes it.

“We're all here for you, bro. Whatever you need.” Five and Vanya nod in agreement. Ben smiles at him, and Klaus smiles back. Together they'll figure this out.

He'll be alright.


End file.
